Birmingham boss Alex McLeish accused David Ngog of diving to win the penalty that gave Liverpool a 2-2 draw at Anfield.

And even Liverpool manager Rafael Benitez, who avoided a potentially-disastrous defeat as a result of the penalty, agreed that his side were lucky to get the spot-kick, drilled home by substitute Steven Gerrard.

McLeish was left fuming, saying: “There is no realdebate, Ngog has dived to win his team a penalty, it happens in the game and has done for years and years.

He added: “The referee (Peter Walton) didn’t get that one right, and when he looks at it again I am sure he will agree.

“He’s an honest enough guy, but he will probably agree that their player dived, and it was a terrific dive. Lee Carsley never touched him.”

He added: “Lee dived in, and when you do that there is always a risk. But on this occasion there was no contact. That was not even close to being a penalty.

Ngog had grabbed an early lead for Liverpool, who were subsequently stunned by two goals before the break by Christian Benitez and Cameron Jerome to give Birmingham the lead.

“I felt we were comfortable, but apart from when Gerrard made a late run to hit the post, I felt my defenders and the whole team were awesome.”

And when quizzed on the penalty decision, Benitez conceded his side were fortunate with the decision.

He said: “We scored with a penalty that probably wasn’t a penalty, but we deserved to win the game.”